Cafetalk Tutor's Column

3 tips to prepare before an online lesson

Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash There are many things that you can do to prepare for a lesson, bu...

Quick tips: bust

The word “bust” has many meanings in English! As a verb, it can refer (informally) to breaking som...

World Cup 2026: A Canadian perspective

Photo: A massive World Cup 2026 ball at Sport Chek in TorontoThe World Cup is almost upon us, and w...

Quick tips: hunt

Is there a difference between hunting something and hunting for something? In fact, there is! A big...

Canadian desserts

Photo: Butter tartsToday I’d like to introduce 3 of the most well-known Canadian desserts, and then...

Quick tips: might as well

“Might as well” is an idiom that shows support or agreement with a course of action because it is t...

Spring plans

Photo: Allan Gardens (in Toronto) in MayThere are also a couple of things that I’ve already done so...

Quick tips: up to (number/amount)

Sometimes companies use tricky grammar in their advertising, grammar that makes a product sound won...

Why are New York Yankees caps so popular?

Photo by Caste on Unsplash I was at a department store in Toronto the other day and I came across a...

Why do people eat chocolate bunnies during Easter?

Photo: Chocolate bunnies at SOMA Chocolatemaker in TorontoAnother Easter holiday has come and gone ...

Talking about books in English: Part 2

Welcome back to this article about talking about books in English! In Part 1, we covered vocabulary...

Talking about books in English: Part 1

One of my goals for 2026 is to read more books, so today I’d like to share some vocabulary for talk...

Back to the 90s

I was born in the 80s, and although I have a lot of nostalgia for that decade now, my memory of it ...

Canada at the Winter Olympics: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Photo: Canadian men's curling teamThe 2026 Winter Olympic Games have wrapped up, and Team Canada wa...

Quick tips: taking a day off

Did you decide to take a day off? Or maybe it’s a national holiday in your country! Here are a few ...

Pet names (terms of endearment) in English

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash With Valentine’s Day coming up soon, I thought I’d share some comm...

More winter weather words

Photo: Snow piled high on a car on my street Once again I’m sipping on tea and looking out my wind...

When and why did you decide to become a teacher?

Photo: A lesson in my old classroom I have been an English teacher for 15 years, but before that I...

Winter weather words

Photo: winter weather in TorontoIt’s noon in Toronto and I’m sipping tea and looking out the window...

I'm back!

Photo: The view from my wife's room at St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto, where we spent m...

The best book I read this year

Photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash Most of the books I read last year were of the historical variety...

Quick tips: give s.t. a…

Casual English is usually all about making things shorter and saying less, but that’s not always th...

Quick tips: the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon

Do we need to capitalize the words “earth,” “sun,” and “moon”? Do we need to use “the” with them? T...

The dark side of Halloween

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash If you live in a country where Halloween is a relatively recent cu...

Native speakers use subtitles, too!

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash       Do you use subtitles to understand TV shows or mov...

Talking about compass directions in English

Describing compass directions can be a bit tricky when it comes to remembering whether to use capit...

What is “Saskatoon”?

Photo: My friends and I at a gift shop in Saskatoon So, in September, I wrote a grand total of zer...

What I’m into lately (unexpected hobbies?)

Photo: Me with my container of cicada husks and a live cicada on my arm The weather was beautiful ...

Six months of movies

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash       In the first six months of 2025, I watched 51 movies and 10 ...

Quick tips: I’m going to… vs. I’m in a… (pronunciation)

I was watching a video recently in which two men were demonstrating a game and announcing what they...